黑洞社区

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities wants to develop an open-source kit of parts solution to encourage take-up of modern methods of construction (MMC). 

It has appointed offsite specialist Akerlof to lead a new research project, which aims to put the commitments of the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Roadmap to 2030 and Construction Playbook into practice. 

The consultant has been appointed through a competitive tender to lead a consortium in the study, which will focus on category 2 and category 5 MMC. 

Buro Happold will focus on kit of parts development within the consortium, with HLM Architects looking at MMC standardisation and Limberger Associates handling project leadership and management. 

Extensive consultation with the wider industry and supply chain is planned to ensure solutions reflect the requirements of the sector. 

Housing Minister Rachel Maclean MP said: 鈥淒elivering more, better quality and greener homes is central to our levelling up mission.  

鈥淚 encourage all industry partners to engage in this research which will harness the benefits of Modern Methods of Construction, drive up productivity in the sector and help deliver the high-quality homes this country needs.鈥� 

The government has long championed MMC. At the beginning of the year, DLUHC to develop a UK-wide standard for high-quality offsite homes.

But there have been concerns over the viability of the approach, with a number of high-profile failures in the private sector.

Most recently, at its timber-frame modular housing factory seven years after setting it up.

The firm had promised to build 3,500 homes a year from its North Yorkshire facility but it did not secure the necessary scale of pipeline and ultimately racked up at least 拢174m.